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Greensboro Won't Require Written Consent Before Police Searches

KERI BROWN/WFDD

Greensboro officials have rejected a proposal that would have required police to obtain written consent before conducting searches. 

A divided City Council on Tuesday decided that procedures in place already ensure that incidents are well-documented, and backed off a proposal requiring written consent before searching a person, car, or property.

The News & Record reports that in a 5-4 vote, the council instead decided to require officers to videotape all encounters with body-worn cameras and fill out an incident report.

Police will also be required to provide a standardized explanation of a person's rights before conducting a search.

In explaining why she voted against the proposal to obtain written consent, Mayor Nancy Vaughan said it would represent a step backward at a time when police encounters can already be captured on video.

Proponents had argued that written-consent procedures gave people more options and protections when faced with a police search.

Council members also discussed a future resolution that endorses changes in the department's “use-of-force” policies in the wake of George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. 

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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